Friday Artfest: Midnight Snack by Jamian Juliano-Villani (2013)

Midnight Snack by Jamian Juliano-Villani (2013)

Last February I discovered Jamian Juliano-Villani and fell in love with this artist's entrancing work. Her paintings have an easy way of both comforting and completely upsetting me when I look at them and Midnight Snack is no exception.

Midnight Snack is deceptively simple upon first glance. The scene is reminiscent of so many childhoods where a worn out mother comes home late at night looking for something to eat and a few minutes of rest only to find that the children are still up and no peace will be found. But if you give the picture a closer look things are far different than they first appeared. 

On the upper left hand corner of the refrigerator is a man's tie and on the corner of the counter are his glasses seemingly existing within the same space as the potted flowers. It's as though he's both here and gone beyond our plane of existence - which may very well be the case as looking into the freezer box you can see two hands reaching out. Yet even as these hands grasp for freedom the look on the woman's face seems not to register their appearance, as though they aren't really there. The two worlds theme does not end here as in the door of the fridge, near her knees, is a fish spitting out water as though it were still alive while a skeletal shadow with crossed eyes is cast on the refrigerator door. And then there's the bird cage where the parrot has escaped to land on the top of the cabinets while the vulture sits in the cage watching the little girl enter the room. 

I love Jamian Juliano-Villani and Midnight Snack only reinforces my belief that she is one heck of a talent. Hopefully soon I'll get to see her works in person! So what about you?